Morphin' Guardians - Silver Beginning
by Skyven
Summary: AU - There are many more Ranger teams in the Universe than one'd think. And an unexpected chain of events leads to the formation of a new one.
1. CH1 - Down the Rabbit Hole

_**Author's Note: ** \- AU story.  
__It's been about 4-5 years since I first started writing this idea, and it had been on a dare. Ever since, I had gone on, finished the first of the three stories in the series, and even started working on an (unrelated) original sci-fi thriller. Not to mention a whole lot of real life got in the way. Coming back to this story, I decided to rewrite it. Looking back, I realized how rushed it was, and I'd dare to think I've improved a bit in all these years of writing. If anything, I've found a style of writing I was comfortable with. I'm going to attempt to re-release every week a chapter of this story, rewritten._

_I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Looking forward to any constructive criticism. _

**Chapter 1 – Down The Rabbit's Hole**

It was a warm Californian day in Angel Grove and the vast majority of the students of Angel Grove High School had just left their classes to go on about their customary business as a young man walked across the now desert halls of ground floor of AGH towards the gym area. He was well built, wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked around the connecting halls as he approached the main staircase leading to the upper floor, obviously looking for someone.

At the bend of the corridor near the staircase another young man stood around tapping his foot impatiently, wearing a green sleeveless shirt and black pants, his backpack slung casually over his shoulder.

"Tommy! Hey!", the youth in red called, relieved, as he saw the other teen looking around with an air of boredness and waved a hand lightly.

"Hello Jason.", Tommy answered tersely, his eyes fixed intently on the young man in front of him.

"I'm sorry, just dropped by to let you know I can't sparr today. Urgent call from family.", Jason said apologetically, looking at Tommy.

"I see.", Tommy responded evenly.

"Are you up for a reschedule? Tomorrow maybe?", Jason suggested, wondering quietly why the other teen was so tense.

"Fine with me."

" I'll see you tomorrow then."

With that Jason turned his back on Tommy, not noticing a small tinge of emerald green flashing in his eyes and a circle shaped object slipping into his hand: a coin. As he started to walk away, Tommy turned the coin towards Jason, a green light beam shooting out of it and Jason disappeared in a brief flash of green particles that shimmered into nothingness in a matter of seconds. Tommy returned the coin into his backpack, looking left and right along the adjacent corridors, then slinging the backpack back on his shoulder and walking towards the front exit like nothing happened.

* * *

At the same time, at the upper floor of Angel Grove High, another youth just left the computer labs with his black backpack slung casually over his left shoulder. He was 6" tall and muscular built, dressed in a grey sleeveless shirt, black pants and black sneakers with a grey trim to them, and with a far more serious expression on his face than one would expect of an 18-year old. His almost jet black hair was crew cut and only a very faint trace of stubble on his chin indicated the formation of a goatee. As he passed along the tight corridors of the labs, the scant groups of people clustered around the upper floor lockers turned heads after him, some whispering to their mates while others just moving out of the way, but he didn't even raise his eyes to meet theirs in acknowledgement, lost in thought.

He silently walked across the hall towards the staircase to the lower floor, eager to finally leave the school premises behind for the day. As he approached the stairs, he heard two voices talking downstairs that shook him out of his thoughts, one of which was more than familiar while the other he could not say he ever heard until now. Grinning, he quickened his pace to approach the stairs. Slowly leaning over the railing of the stairs, he watched as the two youths separated, but, while the one in red turned his back and was about to leave, the other one got some kind of coin out of the bag and shot a green beam at him. The older youth pulled up the stairs without making a sound as the one in green around himself, then leaned slowly back to watch him leave.

\- _What on Earth has just happened? -_ the young man asked himself as he stood by the stairs waiting for a few minutes to pass so he could head to the lower floor without suspicion. His mind was reeling in the shock inflicted by scene he just witnessed, and he tried frantically to look for an explanation for what happened.

But then, it just all clicked into place. By now everyone knew of the battle between the Power Rangers and the alien invaders from space, and most recently, of the appearance of another Ranger who was intent on helping the aliens conquer the planet: the Green Ranger. And he just witnessed who the Green Ranger really was. He recognised the younger teen from a recent Karate Tournament in which his brother participated. Just one question remained to be answered.

\- _What does the Green Ranger want with my younger brother? _-

With that thought in mind, Kevin Lee Scott descended the stairs in a hurry and walked towards the exit of AGH, concern mixed with fury deeply showing in his face and replacing the expression of surprise and shock he had just a moment ago. He decided he'd get to the bottom of the matter with Tommy in earnest.

* * *

Zack sat at the usual table the Rangers sat at while in the Youth Centre. He was looking around himself, waiting for Jason to show up, showing a forced smile at acquaintances that passed. An empty glass stood on the table in front of him, and he drummed his fingers onto the table to a beat in his head. While his acquaintances would think he was his usual easygoing self, a further look at him would show that he was recently a bit fatigued and worried. It was expected, since this young black teen was the Black Power Ranger, and recently in that role he had his hands full with the new Ranger on the block, an evil one on top of that. With the communication with Zordon disrupted and the Command Center in a disarray, the Rangers had to use everything they had left at their disposal to both get Zordon back and keep Rita and the Green Ranger at bay.

Looking at his left, he saw Trini and Billy enter the Youth Centre, discussing something on their way to the table.

"Hey Billy, hey Trini.", he greeted the two, his features assuming the first genuine smile of the day.

"Salutations Zack", Billy replied, with a faint smile, drawing a bar stool closer and plopping onto it with exhaustion. The resident genius had pulled an overnighter, working to stabilize the teleportation system and helping purge Alpha 5 of the last vestiges of the viral code slipped into him by the Green Ranger.

"Hey Zack, what's going on?", Trini returned the greeting as she pulled up a chair as well and dropped her backpack under the table, for a change not bothering to pull her notebooks out.

"Nothing, just waiting on Jason and Kimberly to show up. Between our class assignments and the you-know-who, I don't know anymore what's worse.", Zack commented bitterly, tapping his fingers on the empty soda glass in front of him.

" I know what you mean. I've seen Kimberly on my way out from school and she told me she'd meet with Jason in front of the High School after she dropped her books home." Trini said with a drawn out sigh. The Yellow Ranger was worried about her friend: they had yet to find out the identity of the Green Ranger, and being separated left them potentially vulnerable.

" If I remember correctly, Jason had a scheduled meeting with Tommy prior to meeting us. They should be here soon enough." Billy pointed out, recalling the two teens talking the day prior: the newcomer had been giving all of them the cold shoulder aside Jason, with whom he seemed very keen to spar.

Zack looked unconvinced. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

Kimberly was pacing in front of the Angel Grove High, where she agreed she'd meet with Jason as soon as he finished his sparring session with Tommy. She had gone to drop her school books home and then returned to the High School proper, figuring that by the time she'd done that, Jason would be done and waiting for her in front of the school gates. However that was not the case, and the more time passed, the more worried she became. Tommy had passed her by, rudely brushing aside her greeting as he made his way down across the street and out of her sight.

A minute later she saw Kevin march out of the front gate, halting to a stop and looking around himself carefully.

"Kevin! Hey!", Kimberly shouted, waving frantically to get the older teen's attention.

Kevin seemed jolted out of whatever he was trying to focus on then turned and walked over to Kimberly, returning her wave.

"Hey Kim! What can I do for you?", he asked politely and with a forced smile, his eyes darting almost nervously around.

" I wanted to ask you if you have seen Jason after class. I was supposed to meet him here.", Kimberly said hopefully, knowing that if anyone almost always knew where Jason was, it was Kevin. The three years older teen was always the one to watch over her and Jason when they were kids, and had quickly developed a penchant for knowing where they'd be.

Kevin pretended to ponder the question. Not because he didn't know where Jason was, but because he knew perfectly well what happened to him. He opted for the reasoning that it might not be in Kimberly's best interest to know what happened to Jason.

" No, I haven't seen him after class. Are you sure he hasn't just gone ahead and is waiting for you in the Youth Center?", the teen replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

" You know that's so unlike Jason. He would not stand up on someone like that without a notice.", Kimberly said with a frown. Something about the way Kevin acted unsettled her.

" Maybe he went there to work out with that new kid in your classes that I've heard so much about.", Kevin suggested tentatively, while his eyes went from Kimberly over to the direction where he saw Tommy go.

" Maybe you're right, Kevin. Thanks anyways.", Kimberly answered, sighing to herself. Maybe she was being just too worried after all. However, Tommy had just passed her by, and Jason was nowhere in sight.

" No problem, Kim. I'll see you later.", the older teen said with a smile as he reassuringly patted her back.

With that, Kimberly turned and left for the Youth Center, while Kevin started running in the direction in which he had seen Tommy go. He was pretty sure he'd find the teen in the park. If not, there'd be times where he could catch the younger man unaware.

* * *

He wasn't wrong in coming to the park. Kevin leaned into the shadow of a nearby tree, watching Tommy go through a familiar kata in the more secluded area of the park. The series of moves was familiar to him: it had been one he and his brother had often practiced. He bristled inside at the thought of confronting Tommy about Jason's disappearance and he was now just biding his time until he saw an opening in the kata the teen was performing.

As he saw Tommy start to turn his back on Kevin to execute a punch, Kevin sprung forward, catching Tommy's arm and wringing it behind. Tommy, caught by total surprise, couldn't do anything as his arm got twisted in a lock behind his back while at the same time he lost his footing to a sweep, unceremoniously falling face down into the grass. He felt a foot position itself on the back of his knee, applying just enough pressure to ensure he wouldn't move his legs without risking serious injury. All he could do was turn his head around to look at his attacker and was greeted by an older teen's blue eyes looking at him menacingly.

" What did you do to Jason?", Kevin asked harshly, his penetrating gaze passing over the downed teen and slowly applying pressure to his arm, leveraging it slowly to the breaking point.

" I don't know what you're talking about!", Tommy gritted between his teeth while he tried to move around to somehow ease the pain in his arm, but the more he moved, the more pressure was applied to his arm, sending jolts of pain through his limb as his nerves protested every move he made.

" Bullshit you don't!", Kevin growled at him, "I saw him disappearing out of the school corridor, and I bet that coin of yours has more tricks up its sleeve. Now spit it out or I am going to risk my good standing by sending you to the hospital, preferably in pieces!"

Tommy smirked more to himself than to Kevin. "Why would you like to know? What is the Red Ranger to you?"

Kevin stood dumbfounded for a moment. - _Red Ranger? Jason?_-, the thought echoed in his mind like a gunshot. Regaining his composture, Kevin lifted his foot off Tommy's knee and let go of his arm. Instead he quickly turned Tommy over to face him while laying down, then lifted him up abruptly by the hem of the shirt.

" If I find out even a scratch on Jason, you'll answer to me. And there won't be any amount of power to save you if I decide to pay you back for what you've done to my brother.", he threatened, then dropped the younger teen on the ground. " Remember I know who you are. **Green Ranger**. ", he growled, then turned around and started to leave.

Tommy shot him a mean glance while sitting up, rubbing his arm while feeling returned to his aching body. " You chose the wrong person to threaten!", he yelled after the young man leaving.

" It's not a threat.", Kevin replied in an ice cold voice, not bothering to look back at Tommy. " It's a promise."

* * *

Kevin strode quickly across the park grounds to a rocky outcropping by the lake, sat there and stared into the water for a moment, concerned thoughts crossing his mind as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His heart was still racing, but the initial unbidden urge to seriously harm the Ranger for kidnapping his brother waned with the lessening of the adrenaline in his bloodstream and was getting fast replaced by a sense of worry. Kevin did not know where the Green Ranger took his brother, nor in what condition Jason was, and he started dreading the worst. He berated himself for acting impulsively as he leveled his head onto his hands, elbows resting on his knees, and in vain he tried to tell himself that he won't let his emotions get the better of him ever again when Jason might pay the price for his error.


	2. CH2 - Confrontations

**Author's Note: **_Well it turns out that publishing a rewrite every week was wishful thinking, especially when my job and University classes get in the way. Not to mention it was hard to work on anything at all for two weeks with my graphics card shot and nowhere to plug in the monitor.  
As always, reviews and criticism is always welcome. That said, enjoy the chapter. =)_

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Confrontations**

Jason was taken aback when the corridors melted with the sky in front of his eyes as the teleportation beam took him away. The dirty meld of colors was then replaced with darkness. The darkness finally cleared and he landed on his back in a medium sized octagonal room, his throat aching from the dry air of the place and his muscles protesting movement the moment he got up. He shifted around uneasily from where he stood, looking around himself as he tried to bury down the fear that was starting to rise within him. The mist that covered the floor like a blanket was reaching halfway to his knees and the walls were grey, with an octagonal window of a sort on each wall, crossed thickly with massive bars and giving insight into nothing but darkness dotted with faint specks of white. Caution soon replaced fear, and Jason looked around, feeling his way along the walls in hope of maybe finding a hidden switch that would open a passage out of the room. He was not sure in what kind of prison he was put, or how, but he noticed his morpher was missing when he perused his pockets and had a suspicion that he'll soon find out where he was.

* * *

In the Moon Palace, Rita Repulsa was watching the events on Earth and was furious. How could her Ranger be so careless as to let himself be discovered by another, yet powerless, human being? Tugging at the hem of her robes absentmindedly and pressing her fingers against her temple, she drew out a long sigh. Nothing ever went properly right. Her robes rustled faintly when she moved away from the balcony and into the spacious throne room.  
She telepathically called on her Green Ranger, and then shrieked: "Goldar!"

The gold armor-clad alien stepped through the door archway of the Palace soon after the witch's voice stopped resonating among the cold stone, with the Green Ranger appearing next to him and kneeling down in front of Rita.

" Your command, my Empress?", Tommy addressed her, kneeling and eyes averted to the ground in revered respect.

Rita swung her staff in an arc and forward, causing a small impact energy wave that knocked the Green Ranger down and slid him backwards into the room, then glared at the downed boy.

" I could not believe you have let yourself be discovered by a normal human! What were you thinking?! , she yelled at Tommy, while making Goldar wince at the sound of her voice. To the gold-clad alien warrior, it was a pleasant change that he wasn't at the end of the yelling for once.

Tommy slowly rose on his feet, looking at the floor, his fists clenching.  
" I did not know that he was standing anywhere in the corridor. He was not anywhere in my sight when I kidnapped the Red Ranger, I..."

"Enough! I do not want to hear any more excuses!", Rita cut him off abruptly. " Your negligence in this matter has costed you your identity to one human. You will remedy that. Get out there and kill him.", she commanded and Tommy pulled out his morpher, morphed in front of her and vanished in a flash of green light streaked with black.

" What about me, my Empress?", Goldar questioned, his eyes still averted from the angry witch, but he kept his left hand on the pommel of his sword, ready at a command to spring into action.

" You will go to the Dark Dimension and give the Red Ranger a proper welcome.", she stated, walking over to the unoccupied throne and sitting down slowly. She watched the black-maned alien just nod.

Goldar smiled faintly as he vanished in a streak of black light, leaving the witch alone again. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as the onslaught of a migraine caught her again: the upkeep of the spell on the Green Ranger was no longer so great, the bulk of it transferred onto the Sword of Darkness, but it still created a connection to the enslaved teen, and there were moments when the youth's rebellious will tried to throw off the spell. The attempts were futile, of course, but she endeavored to smother it anyways for such moments brought about hesitation, and with it risk of failure.

* * *

The Rangers were in the Command Center: Zack was leaning casually against a console with a frown on his face, worry creasing his face. Kimberly was nervously pacing in the center of the room with her hands crossed across her chest while Trini and Billy were helping Alpha with the repairs of the computer terminals.

" I cannot believe he just vanished like that! Rita is surely behind this!" Kim said exasperated, stopping just for a moment to straighten out her pink shirt.

Zack put a hand on Kimberly's shoulder." Kim, you should stop worrying. He'll turn up.", he said with a sympathetic smile. " You know Jase, he wouldn't go down without a fight."

Kimberly just looked at the floor, clenching her fists helplessly. "I should have arrived earlier, gone in to see if Tommy has actually seen Jason, or..."

" Kim, ", Trini cut her out and moved to her, "don't blame yourself. You didn't know it would turn out like this. We're doing all we can to get this place running and start looking for his signature."

" But I should have known! ", Kimberly countered in helpless frustration. " Rita's been trying to pick us off one by one ever since the Green Ranger appeared. "

Trini tried to give a reassuring smile to her teammate, at the same time acknowledging her fears: the Green Ranger has been repeatedly trying to strike at them separately and, while the alien forces seemed to draw the line at attacking them while in a crowd, the group had agreed that they'd try to at least travel in pairs.

"Trini, can you come over here and assist me in the repairs for a moment?", Billy asked the Vietnamese girl, while he was bent over the computer console, trying to untangle some scorched wires and put a few other boards in their place. The consoles had been fried, but the mainframe of the Command Center had been well protected deeper underground, and it was only a matter of part replacement to get back the interface with moved over to help him while Alpha moved to Kimberly, his saucer-like head almost wobbling while he walked.

" Ay ay ay, Kimberly, do not worry. We will find Jason.", the little robot quipped in, in an attempt to soothe the fears of the Pink Ranger. The little red and gold automaton had spent the day in maintenance mode to help speed the virus purge that Billy had initiated. He did not dare to interface with the mainframe directly until he was very sure there was no risk of infection.

" The computer is operational." Billy announced with a tired sigh after a few minutes and everyone else turned around to face the fixed terminal, while Alpha proceeded to stand near Billy and help him start the search for Jason. The room was finally brightened by the green light cast by the holo-projectors as the terminal started up, the lightning symbol of the Rangers rotating in mid-air while the system booted.

\- _Let's just hope we're not too late. _\- Zack thought grimly as Billy started the search, the screens lighting up green, tracing diagrams and maps flanked by wave diagrams representing the search patterns of Jason's Power and his vital signs.

* * *

Kevin was working on an advanced kata in the forest outskirts with his backpack laying near a rock, when he caught an emerald green flash in the corner of his eye. He quickly spun around, meeting eyes with the Green Ranger standing in front of him, brandishing the Sword of Darkness in one hand and the Dragon Dagger in the other. The golden chest armor was omniously shining in the sun.

" This is not a good place to be alone. Accidents might happen. ", the Green Ranger smirked, moving to swing the Sword of Darkness at Kevin. Kevin stepped behind out of the swords' reach, just to meet a green ball of energy flying towards him from the Dragon Dagger. He sidestepped, ending up with a small part of his sleeveless shirt burning and his shoulder badly scorched, his body out of balance for a split second from the impact of the blow. He held up a yelp of pain in his throat at the spreading heat on his skin just as he saw the Green Ranger confidently charging at him. Regaining his balance quickly as the Green Ranger closed distance between them, Kevin steadied himself for the fight that ensured.

The two moved intertwined in a flurry of blows, the Green Ranger intent at slashing his opponent to pieces, while Kevin sidestepping, ducking and overall evading the blades, while returning a few counterattacks of his own. While the Green Ranger had the benefit of his powers and of his reinforced suit, Kevin vaguely knew the younger teen was only a tie match for his brother and focused on sports combat. He, on the other hand, had vastly more experience and training in the styles of karate and ninjutsu, neither of the arts taught to him in the confines of sports competition rules but for the crucible of real combat. With his shoulder burning and bleeding, he bounded and leapt around, and then moved fast to attack in a perfect execution of hit-and-run attacks. Where the Green Ranger was confidently aggressive, Kevin's moves were economically cautious and precise. At one point there was a resounding crunch as the Green Ranger's armored gauntlet hit its mark with amplified force, almost flattening Kevin's nose and causing the teen to bound backwards, buying himself time to clear the spots dancing in front of his eyes.  
As the sword thrusted towards him, Kevin moved aside, finally seeing an opening. He hit his opponent's sword arm with full force between the armor reinforcement and on the arm nerve points, causing the Green Ranger to drop the sword. Grabbing him by that same arm, he twisted it, but ended up having the Dragon Dagger slash at his left cheek, the blade penetrating pretty deep into the skin. The Green Ranger got his arm free and quickly stepped back, but noticed that the Sword was behind his opponent and that he'll have to do with the Dagger. He executed a feint slash while projecting a kick to Kevin's abdomen area. The kick connected, but Kevin just bent slightly while exhaling, maintaining balance and preventing the evil Ranger from knocking the wind out of him. Evading a couple more slash attempts to his chest, he pulled back in leaps in time to pick up the Sword of Darkness and use it to parry the incoming attack with the dagger. The two engaged in a blade fight, with Kevin shortly having the upper hand due to the superior distance of the sword and managing to land a few clear cuts on the Rangers' arms and side, to finish with a devastating blow to the Green Rangers' shield, which sent him rolling down from impact, the dagger flying out of his hand.  
By then both had quite a few injuries, Kevin from the Rangers' weaponry and the Green Ranger from Kevin's powerful blows that managed to penetrate even his suit shielding at some points. The Green Ranger looked up, just to see the tip of the sword pointed to his visor.

" I should kill you here and now.", Kevin muttered through his teeth, his eyes shining with anger, as blood trickled onto the Green Ranger's uniform from his wounds, smudging the top of the shield with blotches of red.

"This is not over yet.", the Green Ranger replied tiredly, vanishing, along with the Sword of Darkness in Kevin's hand and the Dragon Dagger laying nearby.

Kevin stumbled to his backpack, picked it up and slowly made his way back into the suburbs, clutching his burning and bleeding shoulder, while his ribs were pulsating faintly in pain and his left cheek was bleeding from the slash. His nose throbbed, the stream of blood that flowed from it barely stemmed by the teen finding a towel haphazardly crumpled in his backpack with which to press against it. Other minor bleeding wounds and bruises marred his form, but at this point, he gave his best not to collapse while heading towards home.

As he stepped into the street, people looked at him with worry. Several had heard the sounds of battle that came out from the park or saw the brief flashes of green and had run over to see what was going on. With every step taken, Kevin tried not to stumble as adrenaline gave way to exhaustion, and a few people offered to call an ambulance, to which he barely coherently declined. His vision was getting slightly misty, and he grasped at park benches and street lights in an effort to steady himself. Seeing someone coming his way with an officer in tow, Kevin made a detour, elbowing his way through the surprised pedestrians, not wishing to deal with any kind of authorities right now.

* * *

Jason had his own problems while the Green Ranger was battling Kevin. He saw Goldar suddenly appear in his prison, sword in one hand, and he immediately got on his guard, bracing for an assault. His hand felt around the back of his belt, but his morpher was nowhere to be found.

"Well if it isn't the Red Ranger. ", Goldar smirked. "Were you looking for this?"  
With that, he opened his left hand to reveal the Red Ranger morpher and coin and showed it to Jason, the golden reflection of the light from the metal almost taunting him. The Camian tucked the morpher onto his belt, exposed.

"Let us see how tough you are without this. If you manage to take it from me, you're out of here. Now show me what you've got!". Goldar stated with a fanged grin, then eased himself into an attack stance just moments before he lunged after the teen.

Jason didn't have the time to answer as he was forced to duck and evade the sword blow, which hit the metal bar next to him, causing sparks to fly into the air. Getting back to the opposite wall, Jason watched as Goldar charged at him again, but this time he was ready. He sidestepped the next sword blow and delivered a roundabout kick to Goldar's back, under the wings where the armor opened to allow for the alien to take flight. Goldar stumbled forward almost head-first into the wall, averted by smacking shoulder first. The alien stood upright and turned to face Jason, his eyes lit by a delighted glint: the Red Ranger had always been a challenge in battle and the Camian was glad he would not dissapoint despite not having his powers. He swung a feint vertical slash with the sword and instead kicked Jason in the ribs as he sidestepped out of the blade's way. Jason heard his ribs crack faintly as he bent over in pain, and knew he was not going to get to his morpher easily. A moment later he was backhanded by Goldar, falling to the floor. Jason decided he'd play a waiting game, hiding in the thick floor mist and try to get to his morpher.

\- _The others must be mad with worry by now. _\- The thought crossed his mind quickly despite his currently deadly predicament. - _Just typical, Jason, just typical. You worry about the others while you're on a good way to get turned into minced meat._ -

Goldar frowned, seeing that the Red Ranger was not getting up. He was pretty sure he did not harm the human that much. His eyes flew over the area of the room, but the fog covering the floor was unwavering.

"Getting scared, Red Ranger? Well, you will not be able to hide like this forever.", he taunted then proceeded to thrust the sword downwards, stabbing at the floor in a random pattern.

Jason shuffled along the floor carefully, trying to evade the sword falling on him. At one point the sword came down very close to his head and he started to think he might not make it at all. He could not keep moving indefinitely and Goldar was bound to hit some part of him sooner or later. He sprung up behind Goldar, knowing where the lion-ish alien would have his back turned and executed a round kick to Goldar's sword hand. The surprised alien dropped his sword as his arm swung outwards from the force of the kick. Jason used that slight second of surprise to dive after the morpher on the alien's belt, grasping the small device in desperation.  
As Jason braced for the inevitable savage counterattack of his alien opponent, Goldar looked slightly up with surprise and urgency showing on his face, and then vanished in a black flash.

* * *

The Green Ranger materialized in the Moon Palace, clutching his side with his almost numb arms. Even given all his advantages, he felt like he just wrestled a bear unmorphed. Rita sat on her throne in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest, visibly furious.

"Is it possible you cannot do a single thing right today?!", she sighed in exasperation. The boy in front of her was cowed.

"My Empress, I...", Tommy started, just to be cut short by a wave of her hand.

" No excuses! There is one thing I expect you to do at this point. Either kill the captive Red Ranger or convince him to join us. Make yourself useful.", she ordered, turning around and mentally issuing a command to Goldar to come back to the palace. She felt the Green Ranger's will give another tug at rebelling and she pushed it back through the mental link.

" Yes, my Queen.", Tommy bowed profusely and disappeared in a streak of green.

* * *

Zack was glancing around the Command Center, watching the faces of his teammates. The rest of the team had been shaken from the fight they had witnessed over the Viewing Globe between Kevin and the Green Ranger. The Viewing Globe showed the fight half the way as it happened, and they didn't even notice it right away as the alarm system was broken, so engrossed in trying to restore the computers and search for Zordon and Jason. By the time they overcame the initial shock of surprise, it was already over.

"Why would Rita attack a civilian like that?", Zack wondered aloud, his fingers drumming on the top of the console.

Kimberly leaned against a console, shaking. "And why exactly Kevin? He's not involved."

"Perhaps Rita knows that Kevin is Jason's brother and wants to use that to her advantage?", Trini offered, but then shook her head. It was obvious Kevin was meant to be killed, not captured.

"Or perhaps Kevin has gained an insight into the Green Ranger. At this moment, that seems the only plausible possibility.", Billy said, still looking over the computer screens, watching for any sign of Jason, while Alpha was trying to recover the inter-dimensional link to Zordon.

" We need to talk to him. If he can tell us anything that we don't know, there will be more hope to overcome this.", Kim stated as she got up and brought up her morpher from where it materialised behind her back. Seeing the police officer that had made a beeline for her friend on the Viewing Globe, she sighed. " We have to be fast though, seems like he'll be in trouble again."

"I'll come with you. There's nothing else we can do until we find Jason anyways.", Zack said standing up and bringing up his own morpher.

IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!

MASTODON!

PTERODACTYL!

The two calls echoed in the Command Center and in a flash of black and pink, Kimberly and Zack were gone while Billy, Trini and Alpha were trying to get a lock on both Jason and Zordon.

* * *

Jason had just gotten up and got some respite from his fight with Goldar when he saw a flash of green appear. He clipped the morpher to the back of his belt: his attempt at using it in this dimension had failed miserably, with the Red power forming his armor and then just sizzling away. - _Not what I needed right now. _-, he thought, once again settling in a battle stance and trying to appear calm and composed.

"Ah, the famous Red Ranger. How does it feel to be at the mercy of your enemy?", the Green Ranger taunted him, carelessly circling his prey.

Jason ignored the jab, instead asking: "Why are you working for Rita? Come to our side, she'll destroy your... our planet!"

"And be Zordon's lackey? I don't think so. Join us, Red Ranger, side with Empress Rita and experience all the power you never thought possible.", the Green Ranger sneered back, casually swinging the Sword of Darkness in his right hand.

" Not a chance in Hell! I'd rather die than to join the forces of evil.", Jason stated firmly, tightening his fists in anticipation of the attack his answer is going to provoke.

" I think we can arrange that.", the other Ranger retorted with a laugh.

The Green Ranger charged at Jason, who could only evade the slashes and counterattack with the best of his skill, silently hoping that his friends would find him before he lost his life.

Billy saw the computer screen flash with its newest readout and quickly let out a cry of happiness.

"We found him!", the sandy-haired teen shouted with elation as he brought the information to the forefront of the screen. He pushed up the glasses on his nose, squinting at the information displayed.

Trini quickly came to stand over his shoulder as she watched him working the computer commands, trying to lock onto Jason's unique signature long enough to get him and his morpher out of whatever place he was in right now. And it proved no easy task with the signature periodically vanishing from the spectrum, then to return with force.

" Can I help you with anything, Billy?", Trini asked, concerned as she looked at the screen. Her portion of the holographic screen showed the rotating picture of the Tyrannosaurus coin, under it scrolling the power level emanating from it. The heavy fluctuation of the power levels showed that someone or something was trying its best to scramble the energy reading.

" No, I'm still trying to get the signal strength stable enough so we can have a clear lock-on onto Jason."

\- _I hope we're not too late. Hang in there, Jase. _\- Trini thought, silently praying that her friend and leader gets out of this ordeal alive.

" We got him!", a triumphant cry came from Billy a few minutes later as he activated the teleportation generators.

* * *

Jason got thrown back into the wall by a vicious kick to the chest, then slumped on the floor while breathing raggedly. At this point he knew he wasn't going to win this fight, not while being worn out by Goldar before. The Green Ranger smiled at the labored breath and haggard look of his opponent and moved to step on Jason's left wrist while pointing the Sword of Darkness at his chest.

"It seems this game has come to an end.", he stated gravely. "One down, four to go."

With that he raised the sword above his head and then sent the blade crashing down towards Jason's chest. Jason felt the blade penetrate the skin and sink deeper inch by inch as it traveled from left shoulder to the center of his chest. The sense of shock and imminent death was broken only by a tingling sensation that spread through his body. In a flash of red he and his morpher were gone and the Green Ranger was left with nothing but to swear vengeance for his escape.

* * *

Kevin pushed his way through the crowd to grumbles and surprised gasps to finally lean onto a street light pole when the police officer grabbed his shoulder and forcibly turned him around. Despite the height difference, the officer glared at the teen and surveyed the boy's injuries.

" When you are told to stop, you'd do well to do as you're told!", the officer bellowed at him.

" Sorry, sir.", Kevin answered stiffly. The crowd formed a circle around the two, and curious whispers started circulating among the onlookers. Several people tried to push their way to the front to get a better view.

" Now what happened here?", the officer asked, his voice immediately changing to a calming bass. " You need to get to a hospital."

" Nothing, sir. I'll be fine.", Kevin shot back defensively.

" As much as you'd want to be a tough guy, you need to go see a doctor. ", the policeman rebuked the teen lightly. " I have eyewitnesses saying something happened at the park, and you look like you've been in a pretty vicious scuffle."

Kevin shook his head lightly. " Sir, I..."

His response was interrupted by two colored streaks that landed outside of the circle of onlookers. The light revealed the Pink and Black Rangers who immediately pushed their way through the mass of people. The officer raised an eyebrow in unspoken question at the approaching superheroes.

" Sir, if we may...", the Pink Ranger said as the two Rangers flanked Kevin.

" He needs to come with us.", the Black Ranger stated as he took a hold of the injured teen around the arm.

" I presume this had something to do with you lot.", the officer mumbled. By now, some people found somewhere cameras and were snapping pictures.

" He took a strike that was meant for us.", the Pink Ranger said, her voice distorted from the helmet. " We're gonna take him with us to recover."

Kevin started to speak up, but the Black Ranger nudged him slightly in the ribs. Obviously the Rangers had further business with him, and he realized if he did not leave with them, he'd have to answer to the police and his parents, which would undoubtedly be a hassle. He gratefully nodded, and the Ranger tightened the grip on his arm.

The cop just nodded and saluted among the cheers of the assembled crowd, and the two Rangers and the teen vanished seconds later in streaks of light.


End file.
